Sicilian Casserole

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 2-quart casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

Meanwhile, brown the ground beef, onion, and garlic in heavy saucepan, stirring to break up ground beef. Add green bell pepper when beef is almost cooked; continue to simmer until beef is done. Drain well.

Add tomato paste, tomato sauce, water, and dried Italian seasoning to the beef mixture and stir well to blend.

Let simmer for 10 minutes to blend flavors.

Meanwhile, cook elbow macaroni as directed on package.

While macaroni is cooking, combine the cream cheese and milk in a medium bowl. Cook in microwave on medium power for 2-3 minutes, stirring once halfway through cooking.

Remove the cream cheese mixture from the microwave and stir with wire whisk until sauce thickens and blends to form a smooth sauce.

Drain the macaroni and add to the cream cheese sauce along with the sour cream and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese; stir to combine.

In the prepared casserole dish, place all of cream cheese mixture. Top with all of the ground beef mixture and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.

Bake the dish for 20-30 minutes until the casserole is bubbly.

To freeze this casserole, add 1 tablespoon cornstarch to the cream cheese sauce. Prepare the casserole as directed, except instead of baking, chill in the refrigerator. Wrap the dish well and freeze up to 3 months. To thaw and reheat, thaw casserole overnight in refrigerator. Bake, covered, for 25-35 minutes at 350°F, then uncover and bake 5-10 minutes longer until bubbly.